Thursday, July 7, 2011

Stones Dreaming

Photo by Martin Grey
                    Avebury
Sometimes language bears in its fossil rock
things once commonly known, now information
available to us only as tourists
as here poke through the earth
through the welter of houses from the last thousand years
through country roads, prim churches, blowzy pubs,
through male and female stones, the huge breast
called Silbury Hill, vast and cumbersome
works of a people whose will slumbers
in the stone circles, rows, wordless
as the thoughts of the sheep that graze.


Yet that will is potent, not with the dumb ferocity
and shapeliness of mountains, not with the bodily
eloquence of frightened or curious sheep.
Here are erected runes of language partly designed
to be read by clouds or goddesses, left for us
too carefully wrought to be ignored.
Sometimes with my hands on the warm/cold stone
I almost think I hear it in my bones.


Marge Piercy

"Older Yet, and Lovelier Far,
  this Mystery - and I will not forget."

Robin Williamson, "Five Denials on Merlin's Grave"
I share with poet Marge Piercy a deep wonderment at the presence of the Stones, set so laboriously and intentionally by such distant ancestors, to mark circles, leys, energy ebbs and flows and currents, Solstices and Equinoxes, moon crossings, and other, more mysterious means and ways that are remembered now only by the stones themselves, and the language of the land.  I'm excited about my soon to be opportunity to visit some of these sites, to see Avebury, Stonehenge, Callenish, and the sacred wellspring of the Chalice Well as well.

"Where Time began and will Begin",  Scottish Bard Robin Williamson begins his story and prayer (which are really one and the same) "I make reverence to the Ancestors and the Spirits of those yet unborn".  Perhaps the Beloved Silence he speaks of  is that Silence that contains the language of stones.


8 comments:

sukipoet said...

wondeful poem by Piercy. Love the last two lines especially. How exciting--this trip. I wonder if you will see a cloutie well?? tie a scarf on it for me if you do.

have a wonderful time. suki

Lauren Raine said...

That I will do, Suki! I once created a "cloutie site" for a festival in New York.......it was amazing how many people knew what a "cloutie" was. More weaving.......

Nicole said...

I too have always wanted to visit this place and feel for myself the history, the energy, the sacredness of it all. I am sure it will be an inspiring journey for you. Do tell us about your experience. Lauren, I am traveling out to Sedona in a few weeks for my birthday. I have always wanted to go, despite it being July and probably very warm, I don't care, I feel a real pull to go and see the land and the red rocks. Do you know of any must see or must experience mystical locations? I have heard about the vortex tours, but I don't want to pick a cheesy tourist trap tour versus a more educational spiritual historical tour. If you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Hope all is well and you are enjoying the summer.

Lauren Raine said...

hello Cole,

Well, that is something can take a long answer! Sedona will be hot now, but beautiful as always. Many years ago I used to hike into Boynton Canyon, one of the "vortexes" - there are also some cliff dwelling ruins there you can climb to, very beautiful, but alas you have to walk around the damn tennis resort to get into the canyon.

Many of us who remember the community of Sedona hate what it has become ("spa land")....gone is the eccentric, artistic, spiritual community that was there, and now it is an expensive tourist place. But I am biased, and you might find otherwise. The land of the red rock is never going to change, it's beauty is immortal, and there is indeed great energy there. Bell Rock is another potent site..... Suggest that you save a lot of money by looking for a motel in Cottonwood, up the road - way cheaper. Check out the "little Daisy Motel".....20 minutes from Sedona. And wind up the mountain from there to Jerome, an abandoned mining town that has become a artist's community. It used to have a great bar with live music too, as I remember.

If you like to drive, the Grand Canyon is not far, and not far either is Canyon de Chelly (in Navajo country), and Spider Woman's Rock. And also, going east, Chaco Canyon. Now that is a truly mysterious place, although the drive there is a bit rough - but spectacular.

The San Francisco Peaks of Flagstaff are sacred to many native peoples.........a place of pilgrimage and visionquest for countless peoples of the past. You cannot fail to see them as you climb up the mountain from Sedona to Flagstaff.

Enjoy!

Nicole said...

Thank you so much Lauren! I knew you would have some great ideas! Much appreciated. I am off to look up your information and plan my trip.

T said...

Fantastic poem by Piercy. She says it all beautifully.

Valerianna said...

I want to go with you.....

Lauren Raine said...

Oh, I do wish I could take you all!

Well, Valerianna, I'll be at a reasonable B&B for the Symposium and Conference.....if you decide you just have to go, I bet she'll rent you the couch.

I have a feeling about this adventure....everything that was about to make it impossible is lining up perfectly for me to go. Flow at last!